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Call for Int'l Action to End Yemen War

In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, Iran's foreign minister called on the world body to urgently address the deplorable situation in the war-torn Yemen.

"I would like to draw your urgent attention to the extremely appalling situation in Yemen, caused by aggression, indiscriminate targeting of civilians and a blockade, imposing intolerable suffering on the Yemeni people," Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote, calling for international action to end the mass destruction in Yemen, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on the Foreign Ministry's website.

Over two years ago, Houthi fighters dislodged the Saudi-allied president Abd-Rabbu Mansur Hadi, who later fled to Saudi Arabia. Since then, Yemen has suffered devastating and indiscriminate airstrikes launched by a Saudi-led coalition to restore Hadi to power. The top Iranian diplomat said, "Blocking of humanitarian access to an already famine-stricken Yemen and the decision to 'close all Yemeni air, sea and land ports' have further deteriorated the humanitarian nightmare in Yemen."

Simply because it shares a border with Yemen, Saudi Arabia has used the full leverage offered by US and UK military support to tighten a blockade on Yemen and hinder efforts to send humanitarian aid, causing severe food shortage and lack of medical supplies. Ironically, it accuses Iran of interfering in Yemeni affairs.

Grave Human Crisis

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world's top priority humanitarian crisis, with more than 17 million people lacking food, seven million of whom are at risk of famine. More than 2,000 Yemenis have died in a cholera outbreak now affecting nearly one million people, AFP reported.

Stressing that "there is no military solution for Yemen", Zarif stressed that the only way to end the "senseless war" in Yemen is holding dialogue.

"Iran has emphasized, from the beginning of this crisis, that the only way to restore peace and stability is to allow all Yemeni parties to establish, without any foreign interference, their own inclusive national unity government," he wrote.

In addition, the foreign minister proposed a four-point plan he considered "imperative" to effectively end the tragic conflict in Yemen.

Zarif's plan calls for "a ceasefire and an immediate end to all military operations, unimpeded urgent humanitarian and medical assistance to the people of Yemen, resumption of Yemeni-led and Yemeni-owned national dialogue, with the participation of the representatives of all political parties and social groups, and establishment of an inclusive national unity government."